MIAMI, FLORIDA – MARCH 09: Sean O’Malley fights Marlon Vera of Ecuador during their bantamweight … [+]
The UFC is having a record year in 2024 for its pay-per-view cards.
In January, UFC CEO Dana White said of UFC 297, which took place at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, “Let me start this off by thanking you (Toronto)— first of all, gate, $7.6 million US. 18,100 (tickets), sold out. (The) It was the highest-grossing arena gate in history and the highest gate ever for Canada in an arena. Thank you, Canada.”
Then, in February, White announced that UFC 298, which occurred at Honda Center in Anaheim, California, “(UFC 298 was the) Highest grossing live event in arena history, (the) highest-grossing MMA event in California history.”
On Saturday night following UFC 299, which went down at Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, White said at the post-fight press conference, “I never thought I would be saying this. We’re here in Miami. The gate was $14.14 million. It was a sellout, 19,165 people. (UFC 299 was) The highest-grossing event ever at the arena, we broke our own record, and it is the fourth highest-grossing UFC event of all time.
“Miami is on fire. The place is unbelievable. What they’ve done in the state and in the city in the last 10 years is phenomenal.”
As White said, UFC 298 broke the promotion’s gate record at the arena, which it set in April 2023 with UFC 287. That fight card, which drew 19,032 fans to Kaseya Center, was headlined by Israel Adesanya’s rematch victory over Alex Pereira for the UFC middleweight title.
The three fight cards with higher gates than UFC 298 were UFC 205, UFC 229, and UFC 264. All three pay-per-views featured a Conor McGregor fight at the top of the card. UFC 205 brought in $17,700,000 for the Eddie Alvarez vs. McGregor lightweight title fight. UFC 229 had a gate of $17,188,894.67 for Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor, and UFC 264, which Dustin Poirier and McGregor headlined, brought in 15,759,800.
The main event of UFC 298 saw Sean O’Malley successfully defend his UFC bantamweight title against Marlon “Chito” Vera. O’Malley won the contest via unanimous decision, and brought his record against Vera to 1-1 while moving to 18-1-0-1 overall. With the loss, Vera dropped to 23-9-1.
UFC 298 aired on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+
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